@Mike Casatelli posted:This may be a little off target and not of much help, but with or without the invasion stripes, I believe the colors as applied by CP and shown in the MTH promo artwork constitute what the RAF called its Temperate Land Scheme camouflage pattern. If you watch the engine fade away against the winter trees in Wrawroacx's video posted above, you can get a feel for how effective it may have been. And if you watch the trailing green containers, you can see how intemperate the MTH model's colors would have been.
- Mike
FWIW, the Canadian Pacific's book "Proud Colours" (by Adam Meeks) notes the Royal Canadian Air Force used the Spitfire as their primary fighter. From page 68,
"The paint scheme for the World War II locomotive was based heavily on the camouflage patterns applied to Spitfires in the latter half of the Second World War. After employing green and brown shades for the early part of the conflict, the colours were adjusted in 1942 to the iconic green and gray liveries that the planes wore for the duration of their services lives. CP's team worked diligently to ensure that the RAF Ocean Gray and RAF green paints used on the locomotive were faithful to the original colours used during World War II. The black and white striping matches the 18" widths specified for Allied fighter aircraft during the Normandy invasion, and safety appliances on the locomotive were painted RAF Roundel Yellow to echo the accents on the leading edges of Spitfire wings. The road numbers and class data were rendered in WWII-era RAF standard font, and the locomotive received a unique identifier - CP 6644. Numbered for the 6th day of the 6th month of 1944, the locomotive is literally in a class of her own."
Sadly, there was not similar diligence to the faithfulness of the original colours for this $500 version.
